Getting to know a Place better

Altstadt im Herbst

This is the Stiftsturm in the town of Zofingen. I have been visiting this place fairly frequently this year, as my mother has moved nearby and I have family there. Zofingen has a charming old town with a ring of houses that act as a town wall. This small tower is the Stiftsturm; I liked its blue roof and the trees in their autumn colours in front of it.


Dies ist ein Aquarell des Stiftsturms in Zofingen. Obwohl ich Zofingen schon lange kenne, habe ich erst seit diesem Jahr die Stadt mehr erkundet. Der Stadtkern hat viele schöne Gebäude, die es lohnt, mit dem Pinsel festzuhalten. Am Stiftsturm hat mir besonders das blaugrüne Dach gefallen, was den Anlass zu diesem Bild war.

Two Turkeys

Two Turkeys, watercolour

These turkeys live in a little wildlife park in Switzerland (Heitern, Zofingen). I think this is the first time I have seen these animals that close in real life. Their colours were quite vivid, especially the reds and purples of their heads and the deep darks of their bodies. I simplified the setting a lot to make the birds stand out.

Dancers, watercolour

Waiting, watercolour 30cm x 40cm

For this painting, I aimed for a more 'sketchy' feel, so decided to cut the number of washes down to the essentials. Initially, I wanted to leave the background white but this looked a bit too stark, so I added just a light wash with more or less the same colours I used for the figures.

One challenge when drawing the figure is getting the proportions of the hands right; they are in fact larger than one would think. Maybe because they are so complicated, one tends to draw them smaller than they really are.

Along the River

This is the third painting in my Autumn Walk series. I chose Bockingford hot pressed paper, mainly to use up the block because it is not my favourite paper. Over time, I have found that rough watercolour paper suits me better. I feel the colours tend to be greyer on this paper than on
Saunders Waterford, which is my preferred surface.

Along the River, watercolour 31cmx41cm

Autumn Colours

Last Sunday saw the local rowing club out on the river; there were several boats with beginners rowing along and every so often listening to the cox's instructions. I loved their bright clothing and the reflections they created in the water.

Autumn Colours, watercolour

Autumn walk

After a dreary Saturday, we had wonderful sunny weather this Remembrance Sunday, which was the perfect opportunity to go for a walk in the landscape. I enjoyed seeing the dappled light through the trees and the sun reflecting from the water.

This is my first painting from the photos I took. I used my large Jacksons squirrel brush almost throughout the painting, as the calligraphic marks seemed to suit the subject well and gave it an unforced feel. I am sure I will explore this theme further in the next few weeks.

Autumn Walk, watercolour

Ballet Dancer

Ballet dancers are a recurring theme of mine, as they create such gorgeous shapes. I again used Ken Bromley's Teal blue as my main blue colour; I like the greyish tones it creates with permanent alizarin red.

Ballerina watercolour, 30cmx40cm

Ballet Practice, Watercolour

Watercolour, 30cmx40cm

I wanted to paint this scene because of the the reflections, which gives two different aspects of the dancers. I invented a lot of the background to add interest to the composition.

This is in fact the second painting of the subject, as I hadn't done a tonal study first to sort out the lights and darks and ended up with an unsatisfactory first attempt. I then decided to do almost a reverse in the lights and darks to the first painting and am happier with the result.

Les gorges de la Jogne

I have a quite a large number of blues in my watercolour palette; cobalt, my mainstay, cerulean and ultramarine, all from Jacksons. Recently I bought Teal Blue from Ken Bromley and used it as my main dark blue in this painting. I like it; it leans more towards green in hue and makes a lovely range of light to dark blues.

Les gorges de la Jogne, watercolour

This is another watercolour based on my visit to the Gruyere region. The walk through this beautiful gorge is not too strenuous and provides wonderful views.

Mountain Landscape

This is another watercolour of Gruyere; my main interest in painting it was the hazy mountain range behind the little village on the hill. I loved their hazy blues.

Chateau Gruyere, watercolour

Bygone Elegance

While visiting Dedham, I noticed this beautiful old car, no idea what make it is, but I loved the rich red! Painting shiny surfaces is quite a challenge, and I haven't drawn many cars as main subjects, so it was good practice.

Bygone Elegance, watercolour, 30cm x 40cm

Flatford Mill

Flatford Mill Watercolour

I have just recently found my photos again from my visit to Dedham and Flatford Mill, which has made me want to paint those beautiful old houses.

Sometimes my watercolours almost paint themselves, when I get into the flow, so to speak, but it wasn't the case for this one. I had to paint it over a number of days, which maybe hasn't helped to get into a painting frame of mind.

House in St. Urban

I had the chance to visit St. Urban in Pfaffnau (Switzerland) on a sunny August day and loved the beautiful whitewashed buildings of this former monastery. One building is now a psychiatric hospital and the beautiful baroque cathedral is a popular venue for weddings.

 I wanted to show more detail in this building than I usually do, as I loved the grey stonework and window surrounds.

St. Urban, watercolour

Two Cows, Watercolour

To my surprise, this painting almost painted itself. Quite often, I hit problems in a painting  that I had assumed would be straightforward and sail through others that I expected to be difficult.

I had a general idea that I wanted the meadow to be understated and was aware that I could easily overwork the grasses, so painted the background trees and meadow wet in wet in one layer, apart from the masked grass blades. The cows, too, were painted mostly wet in wet in about two layers.

Two Cows, watercolour 30cm x 40cm

Two rural scenes

These two watercolours are also based on my latest holidays in Gruyere. We came across the cows on our ramble on a very hot day, when they were keeping in the shade from the blazing sun, unfortunately right across our footpath! We managed to squeeze around them, though.

The second watercolour is capturing a shaft of sunlight in the evening.

Resting in the Shade

Last Light of Evening

Chateau de Gruyere

Gruyere, watercolour

I have recently returned from a few days in the region of Fribourg (Switzerland) and visited the charming village of Gruyere.

While I did not do any sketches on site, I took lots of photos to paint from later on. I know, many artists don't like painting from photographs and prefer using sketches only. I feel using photos for reference is fine, as long as they don't hinder one's artistic interpretation of a scene. One should not stick too closely to a photo and maybe think of it as a reminder of one's impressions at the time. Of course, a photo does not replace the decisions one still has to make on focus, values, colour etc.

*****

Ich verbrachte ein paar Tage in der Romandie und besuchte Gruyere, wo ich das letzte Mal vor Jahren in meiner Kindheit war. Der Besuch des Schlosses lohnt sich; ich war erstaunt, die Unterschrift des berühmten Impressionisten Corot unter einigen Wandmalereien zu sehen. Der Schlossbesitzer im 19. Jahrhundert war nämlich Maler und war mit bekannten zeitgenössischen Künstlern befreundet.

Gruyere ist ein vielbesuchtes Dorf und eignet sich deshalb weniger zum ruhigen Sitzen und Zeichnen. Ich machte deshalb Fotos und nehme mir jetzt die Zeit, davon zu malen. Sie dienen mir dabei nur als Ausgangspunkt zu meiner eigenen Interpretation der Landschaft.

Two Ballet Dancers

Watercolour, 30cm x 40cm, painted on Saunders Waterford rough high white, my favourite paper at the moment. I hope I have caught the balance between greyish blues and warmer reds.

Two Dancers, watercolour

Preparing to Dance, watercolour

Two Dancers, watercolour

I like to catch the in-between moments in my paintings of dancers, rather than when they are on stage, for the relaxed and every day atmosphere they convey.

This time I chose a colour scheme based on green and red, which are complementary on the colour wheel. I made a preparatory pencil drawing of the same size as the painting to sort out the proportions and then traced it onto the watercolour paper.

I had to redo the painting, though, as I got the shape of one leg wrong when tracing and noticed it too late. Will have to make  a note to self to be much more careful when tracing that the paper does not move...

Pencil drawing of dancers

Putting out the flags for the Queen's 90th birthday

Two weeks ago I was back in London on yet another rainy day, but the streets were brightened up considerably by all those Union Jacks flying in honour of the Queen's upcoming birthday celebrations.

This is near the BBC (Langham Place), where my husband and me had lunch sitting in the window of a Pizza Express. We saw the newsreader Huw Edwards walk by to pick up some lunch, but I was too slow to take a picture both on his way out and on his return! He's probably quite glad about that.

Painting an Overcast Scene

The British climate certainly provides ample opportunities for painting this type of weather. In the past I might have avoided painting a scene in dull light and waited for the sun to return but I am now challenging myself by exploring this weather condition.

The danger is that the tones are all too close to each other and not providing enough variety in the painting. I tried to counteract this by playing up the colour in places to add interest.

Great Russell St., watercolour

Painting Urban Life

This is a view from Trafalgar Square towards Westminster. I really liked the contrast of the dark statue (of Charles I, incidentally) and the light coloured plinth it stands on. My main aim was to simplify all the architectural detail and record the busy street life, using heightened colour.

View towards Westminster, watercolour

Ballet Dancer adjusting her Shoe

Artists have always enjoyed painting dancers for the beauty and elegant lines they create. One of the most famous painters of dancers is, of course, Degas, who sketched and drew them in pastel countless times.

He is my inspiration in visiting the subject over and again. What holds my attention is the subtle changes of direction in the line of arms and legs and how to express that in watercolour.

I prepared for this watercolour painting by making a line drawing in pencil first to familiarise myself with the pose.

ballet dancer adjusting her shoe, watercolour

St Helen's Church, Wheathampstead, watercolour

This is another painting inspired by my visit to Wheathampstead. I really liked this church; its spire is quite unusual for our region of England but I saw a few more like it when traveling across Northern France, so assume it must be Norman in influence. 

St Helen's Church watercolour

Reflections

A few weekends ago, I visited Wheathampstead to walk on its heritage trail. It was my first visit to this beautiful village. I took a few pictures and look forward to painting a few more watercolours from them. What made me want to paint this subject were the strong contre jour effect and the reflections in the water.

I wasn't looking for a faithful representation of the subject but for a colourful impression

to reflect my mood on the day.

Reflections, watercolour

Two Dancers, Watercolour

One subject I keep coming back to is the human figure, and especially ballet dancers. I prefer capturing them in between performances rather than on stage because I find the formal shapes they make more interesting when the dancers are at rest.

Before I was ready to do the actual painting, I prepared by doing colour notes and small compositional and tonal thumbnail sketches, as well as some detailed pencil drawings. Watercolour needs a lot more preliminary work than other mediums, but then the actual painting stage is really fast, which I find very satisfying.

I painted this on Bockingford rough, 30cm x 40cm.

Two Dancers, Watercolour

Cafe Spitz, Basel

Watercolour, 30cm x 40cm

The green shutters of this elegant cafe harmonised with the colour of the passing tram

Mittlere Brücke

Kayaking on the River Lea

These kayakers provided a welcome splash of contrasting colour to the blues and greens of the river scene.